Alberta Politics Thread

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Brian "no new taxes" Jean sure looks like a better choice than Notley. And this is not hindsight. Those of us that know and understand history totally saw this coming.

Notley didn't campaign on the carbon tax or this massive property tax hike.

This so called outrage that has been brewing in the papers and on talk radio is was as predictable as the Oilers missing the playoffs.

And the funny thing is people are going to get scared by a few dumb things that some candidates say and vote for Notley again and then go back to complaining.

We really do live in a screwed up world.

Isn't the average, like $15 per year? I'm sure I just read that somewhere...

[Coach]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

From reading comments on articles on Facebook and such, it's painfully obvious that there are still a lot of people in this province that feel the exact same way as those racists and bigots, and they have no problem spewing their crap for everyone to see.

I like to think we've made progress in Alberta when it comes to acceptance, but there's still that crowd bubbling beneath the surface that has beliefs that were a lot more common a century ago than now.

The problem is not that these people exist, it's that the political party will actually cater to those ideals rather than trying to expel them from their party's platform purely for the votes they think it gets. Even if the candidate doesn't adhere to those ideals, they still have to make it seem like they do, and it makes the trek forwards very difficult.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Brian "no new taxes" Jean sure looks like a better choice than Notley. And this is not hindsight. Those of us that know and understand history totally saw this coming.

As someone who knows Brian Jean, no he sure doesn't. And lol at the last passing remark, go back to work.

[WCan_Kid]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

From reading comments on articles on Facebook and such, it's painfully obvious that there are still a lot of people in this province that feel the exact same way as those racists and bigots, and they have no problem spewing their crap for everyone to see.

I like to think we've made progress in Alberta when it comes to acceptance, but there's still that crowd bubbling beneath the surface that has beliefs that were a lot more common a century ago than now.

It's not just Alberta, dude, plenty of people in all the provinces share those feelings. If you spend any amount of time in BC, you'll find that our neighbors to the west are as redneck & prejudiced as it gets...

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Brian "no new taxes" Jean sure looks like a better choice than Notley. And this is not hindsight. Those of us that know and understand history totally saw this coming.

How so exactly? Which specific alternatives have the WRP proposed that would have the province sitting in a better position right now?

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

If the cost of living is higher in Alberta, you need to pay higher wages to attract anyone to work in the Province. That goes for any job. Engineer, Teacher, Geophysicist, Lawyer, Bus Driver.

If you don't pay that higher wage to compensate for the higher cost of living, no one can rationally be expected to take an economic pay cut to work here.

Froth at the mouth all you want about standardizing wages. It simply demonstrates a naivete to some pretty basic financial concepts.

The reality is that Alberta costs more to live in than in most other jurisdictions in Canada, therefore, the wages to attract people to work here are higher. Simple.

Agreed. Tim Horton's has to pay its employees in Alberta $3 more per hour than they pay in New Brunswick because otherwise they can't find staff.

However, things get more complicated when we're talking about the public sector. Some jobs, like nursing, see genuine competition between provinces (and the U.S.). We would probably have a nursing shortage if we paid nurses in this province much less than we do now. Other jobs, I'm not so sure. When the cost of living was going up in Alberta, were we facing a teacher shortage? If teachers salaries were 10 per cent lower, would there be a substantial drop in the number of students going into the teaching program, or a shortage of new teachers? From what I can see, no. There's still an oversupply of teachers graduating into the workforce. It's still very difficult to get a full-time position. That tells me there's an oversupply, and that the job market for teachers is distorted. I think we'd find the same for police and firefighters, where they turn away 5 qualified applications for every position that opens up. If we saw an open job market, salaries would be substantially lower. Especially in today's climate in Alberta.

The public sector can't have it both ways - higher salaries in boom times to compete in the market, and then salaries maintained higher than market rate during slumps because of collective bargaining. Security or market. Pick one.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by WCan_Kid

It's not just Alberta, dude, plenty of people in all the provinces share those feelings. If you spend any amount of time in BC, you'll find that our neighbors to the west are as redneck & prejudiced as it gets...

Yeah the difference is though that BC doesn't have a mainstream political party that panders to said bigots.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Those of us that know and understand history totally saw this coming.

You belong to a special group that knows and understands history. Congrats.

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

I'd like to know what the gross income on that was, and what your definition of a middle class income is.

$71k gross. I guess I'd consider mid-income to be anywhere between $60k and $120k.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Isn't the average, like $15 per year? I'm sure I just read that somewhere...

$15/month so multiply by 12. Increase will be about $160-180$ on average per year.

[GaiJin]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Yeah the difference is though that BC doesn't have a mainstream political party that panders to said bigots.

And said bigots is anyone that disagrees with you, amirite?

[peter12]

Median income in Canada is in the low 40s. 60-120 k is decidedly not middle income.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by GaiJin

And said bigots is anyone that disagrees with you, amirite?

If the beliefs they hold are blatantly discriminatory or dehumanizing of another group of people based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., then yes I consider them bigots. Do you have a better term I should be using?

[monkeyman]

oh no, not the bigots!

[LanceUppercut]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

oh no, not the bigots!

OMG BIGOT! Wait, that was a NDP MLA, oh so sorry, she was just a misguided soul and should have a safe space set up so she can contemplate her action.

[rubecube]

And the NDP kicked her out of caucus for it and she was widely denounced on here by mostly everyone, so not really sure how it compares to having a strong section of your base that is homophobic, transphobic, etc.

[LanceUppercut]

Originally Posted by rubecube

And the NDP kicked her out of caucus.

Last I checked she was back in the NDP caucus.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by rubecube

And the NDP kicked her out of caucus for it and she was widely denounced on here by mostly everyone, so not really sure how it compares to having a strong section of your base that is homophobic, transphobic, etc.

Whew, that's good then. i'm glad to hear she's no longer a part of the NDP party. I'd hate to think that the leader of the party, someone elected to represent the views of all Albertans regardless of sexual orientation would welcome anyone who expressed these views. thanks for setting the record straight.

[woob]

Oh god, please not the Drover horse again. It's been beaten to death a hundred fold!

[sworkhard]

Originally Posted by peter12

Median income in Canada is in the low 40s. 60-120 k is decidedly not middle income.

1. IMO family income is a more useful metric to look at. The median family income was 76000. This means that if you have a family income between 50000 or so to 100000ish, your middle income by your definition

2. Median income in Canada is in the high 40's, not low 40's. It was right around 47000 in 2011

3. Median income of full time workers was in the high 50's

4. Middle class isn't determined by the median income, but rather by a number of other characteristics. Most classifications put the middle class by income starting at about the median income (so 47000) and going on up a bit beyond 100,000

So yes, the middle class for a single earner is about 47000 to 100000 Canada wide, or 55000 to 120000 or so in Alberta.

Individual Income By Gender - All
Individual Income By Gender - Full Time
Stats Canada - Family Income